Regional Briefs 6/20/2014

WYALUSING — A Laceyville police officer who tried to sell a semi-automatic rifle out of his patrol car while on duty has been suspended without pay and could lose his job, the borough’s mayor said.

Officer Matt Chamberlain pulled the weapon from the trunk of his cruiser at a gas station Thursday morning in Wyalusing, which is also covered by the Laceyville Police Department, Mayor Phillip Brewer said.

The gas station also happened to be across the street from the Rocket-Courier newspaper, which snapped photos and sent them to borough officials.

While Officer Chamberlain may not have broken any laws, he violated borough policy and its ethics code, Mayor Brewer said.

The borough council will meet tonight to decide the fate of the officer, who has worked for the department for approximately two years.

— PETER CAMERON

Man charged with assault, sex crimes

WILKES-BARRE — A day after being accused of assaulting his former girlfriend, a Wilkes-Barre man was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a teenager “hundreds of times over the years,” police said.

The girl reported to state police on Sept. 17 that Eric Turinski, 42, of 2065 Bear Creek Blvd., had forced her to perform oral sex and have sexual intercourse with him since April 2008, when she was 14. The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Mr. Turinski was arrested on Tuesday in an unrelated domestic dispute with Trudy Smith, 38, a former live-in girlfriend.

He was charged with indecent deviant sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and related counts. He was also charged with simple assault and harassment.

He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of the $255,000 total bail.

— JORY HECKMAN

Wilkes to offer online master’s

WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes University will offer a new online master’s degree program in the fall for career changers interested in Pennsylvania teaching certification at the middle level — grades 4 to 8.

Students enrolled in the program will choose an area of specialization: math, science, social studies or English/language arts.

The online master’s degree in middle-level education is a 39-credit program that provides initial teaching certification and an advanced degree. The graduate-education tuition rate for 2014-15 is $423 per credit, or $1,269 for a three-credit course.

The new program is ideal for individuals with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, the sciences, English, communications or the social sciences. Wilkes also will consider candidates who hold an undergraduate degree in other disciplines but who have at least 18 credits in one of these core areas.

Apply online by visiting www.wilkes.edu/applyonline. For more information, contact Holly Fry, associate director of graduate admissions, at 570-408-5535 or holly.fry@wilkes.edu.

— MICHAEL P. BUFFER

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